Social Justice #2

I really enjoyed day #1 of this group teach. I feel the topic, social justice, is something a little different from the past group and individual teaches. It is a broad area, which we can incorporate into all aspects of our classrooms. I really enjoyed hearing about all the favorite commercials/advertisements and how they could be changed to make them less stereotypical. I felt that this was a very powerful activity, since most of us watch t.v. and don't even stop to think what kind of messages these commercials are sending out. The two commericals that were shown in class also had very powerful messages and made me realize how important it is to show "real" people in advertisements.

This activity really made me stop and think about all the advertisements in schools alone. Although censorship is something that I have never totally agreed with, after seeing all these stereotypes in ads and commericals, I now feel that it may not be such a bad idea. I would have no problem teaching these ideas to my students. I think that many students, are unaware of all the stereotypes in advertisements and they are being affected by them. They only way we are going to help our students overcome these stereotypes is by giving them information about them. Knowledge is power, so we must be willing to step out of our own comfort zone and educate them about these ideas.